Foreign Islamist militants radicalising Syrian conflict

(Vatican Radio) A UN commission on human rights abuses in Syria has warned of the increasing risk of foreign Islamist militants radicalising the conflict.

Lead investigator Paulo Sergio Pinheiro said the presence of hundreds of "radical Islamists or jihadists" was particularly dangerous.

Meanwhile, new figures show that over 16,500 Syrians have applied for asylum within the European Union (EU) over the past 18 months, according to the UN Refugee agency (UNHCR).

Countries with the largest applications include Germany with over 5,500, Sweden with 2,500 and Switzerland with 1,400.

"While most Member States are processing claims and granting protection to Syrians, currently approaches to interpreting protection criteria and the type of status and entitlements granted vary considerably. In Greece, for example, the asylum system fails to meet the protection needs of many refugees. In some countries on the Eastern border of the EU rejection rates are more than 50 per cent. In addition, some countries are more likely to give Syrians a tolerated stay rather than actual protection," said Adrian Edwards from UNHCR.

So far, nearly 350,000 Syrians have fled their country into Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey where they are being hosted by local families and refugee camps.

Listen to the report by Nathan Morley: